Alternatives to Dry Cleaning
What are some recommended cleaning methods as an alternative to dry cleaning services? Namely for different natural materials like wool, cashmere, and silk.
Dryel, specialized shampoo/conditioners, home cleaning solutions, etc?
21 Replies
I've washed my own wool and cashmere knitwear in a bathtub with Woolite. Have yet to ruin anything. Just need to be gentle washing in cold water, do a rinse then roll in a towel to remove excess water, and lay flat to dry.
anything with a lining i would not try to clean yourself
noted!
I have some wool sweaters I find a little itchy in the neck- is there any methods to soften them? I’ve read about a delicate conditioner- is that viable?
not really no
lanolin, conditioner, etc mostly just make them more water repellant/insulating. they're not going to make them much less itchy
How come?
if they shink at all then the inner/outer layers can become different sizes and really fuck up the shape of the garment
if an unlined garment shrinks its even so at least it will probably look ok just a bit smaller
I never dry-clean anything and always wash at home
Your average dry-cleaners use a very harsh process that involves very rough treatment - throwing your clothing into an industrial-type washing machine with fast-evaporating solvents before roughly machine-pressing them into shape. Both the solvents and the process are very harsh to clothing. The fluids used are often not cycled very frequently, so dry-cleaning causes build-up of dirt and debris in your clothing.
The process is very simple and low effort:
1. Fill large bucket with tap-cold water
2. Small amount of appropriate gentle conditioner. I have heard that Woolite was reformulated in recent years for use with women's lingerie, which is apparently it's largest market now, and that it's now harsher than alternatives. Not sure how true that is, but I use Eucalan for wool (it's lanolin-fortified) and Soak detergent for everything else.
3. In go the garments. Soak for a sizeable amount of time - I've soaked wool jacketing for hours, but this really isn't necessary. Too long might damage certain fibres (silk?), but wool will in general be A-OK.
4. Soak and Eucalan are both no-rinse, so I dredge them out, squeeze them a bit over the bucket, lay them over a towel, and roll it up (not too tightly) to absorb most of the water weight. Leave for ~10 minutes (too long will risk pushing wrinkles into the cloth, particularly the shoulder padding)
5. Unroll and hang-dry. Wool jacketing will dry essentially wrinkle-free (no need to iron/press afterwards). Wool soaks up a lot of water, which will start dripping out the bottom - I use a tea-towel/kitchen towel to just squeeze out water from the bottom of the jacket and sleeves a couple times during the drying process until nothing is pooling any longer.
By the end of the first day, it'll be pretty dry.
Within 48-60 hours, it'll be fully dry and wrinkle free.
I've done this dozens of times over years with wool overcoats and jackets, blends and 100% wool, lined and unlined, linings made from polyester, viscose, and bemberg cupro. I've had no shrinking and no maleffects of any kind. Shrinking is caused only by hot water and agitation.
Thank you very much for that write up @AmateurJoe1248 . Thats kind of what ive read online but yours is quite succinct. I figured its a relatively easy process
I’ve heard similar sentiments with Woolite as well and many people recommended Eucalan, so I’ll go with that and Soak
This doesn't damage the fused/canvassed interlings?
Have not had success with cold delicate washing suit jackets, it has definitely messed with them.
I wash everything else though, and my entire closet is marked "dry-clean only"
Canvassing has always been alright
I think fusing always bubbles eventually but it does so mostly with heat - this process uses none. Although in fairness I've done this to many fused jackets and I've never seen any evidence of bubbling.
When you say you've had trouble, do you mean with a machine wash?
Yup, garment bags + cold delicate wash
Yeah that's a very different kettle of fish, I've heard it's a thing but I've always been too wary to try it.
If you want to throw suit jacketing into a washing cycle in a garment bag, you actually need to roll up the garment reasonably tightly and tie it like so, so that there's no agitation of the fabric, then put that into a garment bag. Garment bag alone doesn't help that much - it's mainly to avoid stressing long/thin strap thingies so they dont tear afaik
But my process with a bucket is totally agitation free, so there's no risk at all.
Yeah. Beyond that, except for coats due to the size, everything gets either tossed in the machine or hand washed. Expensive, but I use a spin dryer for the handwash items since they take days to dry otherwise and drip.
Laundry wringer is another good option
Good to know, I'll try it out on a older suit.
Spin drying and wringing are both very damaging. Do you live in a very humid environment?
? They involve minimal agitation
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These, basically the centrifuges you use for swimwear
I wouldn't use a wringer on a structured garment like a suit though
Yeah so spin drying isn't high on agitation but the heat and dry air is damaging to wool.
Centrifigal pressure / wringing can also be quite hard on delicate fabrics like wool, it can warp/distort fibres
I use a dehumidifier. Running it for a day or two for these garments costs a couple bucks max, and it extends the lifetime of garments
When you dredge the garment out of the bucket, squeeze it a little by hand (do not twist/wring) then roll it into a bath towel for 10 minutes to absorb the majority of the water very gentle, then hang dry
Non-heated, thankfully. I run a dehumidifier for smaller garments but the knits are massive
And mostly alpaca/mohair so they hold a ton of moisture
Yeah it is a challenge. Well I guess I'm not too knowledge of the methods you're mentioning, I'll look into it - whatever works for you ig
Fwiw I haven't found it taking very long to dry my garments at all and I always air-dry, but this is highly sensitive to environment
to confirm- rolling in the towel like a Swiss roll, just loosely?